Found!! The Naming Cave

I've had a good luck streak these last couple of months. I've finally found a few things that have been driving me crazy for years. I have to admit I had a lot of help from others that beat me to the punch.

First to check off the list is the Naming Cave. I first became aware of this fascinating little place while scouting out the Gunlock area on Google Earth a few years back. Photographer Don Manion placed an incredible 360-degree panorama of what he calls the Naming Cave smack dab in the middle of Gunlock Reservoir. Obviously the cave isn't under water, but based on what can be seen in the photos, I figured it had to be in the area. However, I could never quite pinpoint its exact location.

I should have known others would have noticed this and would be looking for it also. Still, I was shocked when I checked fellow adventure blogger El Scorcho's site a couple months ago and saw that he had found it! Dang it. Pretty much his first try too.

Anyway he provided the final clue that I needed to figure it out. Instead of biking out to it as El Scorcho did however, I thought it would be fun to pack the family in the Montero and hit some geocaches on the way. We had a lot of fun, but just so you know, it's not easy or safe for little kids to get into the cave itself.

View of the cave's entrance. The petroglyphs are carved on top of the sandstone slab partially blocking the entrance.

Kenneth Castleton first visited the site in 1978 and he briefly described it in his book Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Utah where he refers to the cave simply as the Red Sands site. The art style is believed to be Archaic and therefore could be several thousands of years old. However, since the writings are completely protected from rain and wind, they appear as if they could have been carved yesterday. Truly an amazing site.

There are more glyphs (probably Anasazi) on the north side of the little sandstone mountain as reported in Kenneth's book and confirmed by Sam Hunt who was with us and did a little extra exploring.

I belong to a conservation, hiking group out of St George. We have been searching to find the Naming Cave and as of yet have not been able to do so. A group is out today, in search once again. Is there any other help that you could share with me, to help facilitate it's location? If so, you can write to me at tamarajensen@ymail.com

Cool blog! I love exploring this area and finding new places to visit. Wife and I will be visiting next week and I would love a good adventure. Mind emailing me a few more details? robby.sproul at the gmail.

I believe this to be the site of an incident I was present for on Christmas Day, 2001. I thought you might like to know some of the history.

Long story short, I was a student in a wilderness program who set up camp here on a beautiful sunny day just like the one in the photograph. There is a point near the top of the sandstone upon which you can climb to the top, but to do so, you must step over a crevasse. A friend of mine, a pretty girl i'll refer to as Angel, slipped and fell into this crevasse.

I was cooking a ham in a dutch oven at the camp just about 50m away from the base where the sandstone meets the sand. At staff member and I ran through the cracks and caves, into the crevasse, and found her there. A life flight from Las Vegas arrived what seemed shortly thereafter.

After a 3 week struggle, she passed. If you find the crevasse, you'll know it, because it stretches straight up into the sky, about 70 ft deep.

Found this cave last weekend (or was taken here actually by my little bro). It was definately a trick to get into the cave but the petroglyphs were well preserved. And we did skirt the east side of the glyph cave and found the very narrow crevasse which we squoze through for fun. We then headed north on another dirt road for several miles and found another slot canyon in some red sandstone cliffs and a cave with pictographs. I can't find anything online about the graphs but the area is called Red Hollow. Southwest of square top mountain. We plan to go back in the spring and explore the area more as there must be more to see.

Congratulations, you found the naming cave!I´ve been looking for it for several years, too. It would be a great pleasure to finally be able to visit it.I´d be very glad if you would send a message with directions. helge.meiswinkel@gmx.net

Hi, I've really enjoyed reading your blog about different locations in the southwest. Your perspectives and descriptions as a geologist are quite interesting as well. My wife and I are headed out that way in May, and I would love to know the location of the Naming Cave. If you don't mind sharing it, my e-mail is jdwalters at gmail. Thank you!

We found it. It was a significant challenge but we finally located it. It is a spectacular panel. We spend tow days searching usinf photos from other postings and using google earth pro to locate the exact location. I captured the latitude and longitude so I noiw know the exact lcoation for future reference.

Locally you will hear this petroglyph site called "birthing cave" and "ceiling Cave". The small slot north of this in Red Hollow is reached via a two track that begins at Cole Spring. and of course there is the Lone Pine Arch at the north end of this Red Rock formation right at the base of Square Top Mtn.